Happy Friday 👋

Serving up this week’s Open Tabs conversation, diving into the top news and cultural moments that have caught our attention.

Here are the topics that we covered this week:

* Spotify Wrapped is here [0.00]. In case you missed it, Spotify released their annual Wrapped recap on Wednesday, giving users a gamified overview of the content they consumed over the past year. And this year’s was was big - within the first ~24 hours, Wrapped 2025 had over 200 million engaged users, a 19% increase YOY. We share our thoughts on this year’s execution and explore a growing opportunity for platforms to build kid-specific recommendations.

* Audiences love personalized data [15:30]. Spotify Wrapped set the standard, but 2024/2025 proved it: every brand with meaningful user data now needs a year-end recap strategy. Platforms like YouTube, Duolingo, Reddit, and Peleton have joined in, giving audiences personalized recaps of their activity. We discuss why these personal, data-driven recaps resonate so strongly.

* Forbes 30 Under 30 and the power of clout [20:00]. This was a big week for year-end recaps! Forbes released their annual 30 Under 30 roundup on Tuesday, highlighting influential people under 30 across 20 sectors, from social media and sports to media, art, and finance. What made this list pop on our feeds wasn’t Forbes content itself, but reaction videos from the creators featured. We discuss the symbiotic relationship between creators driving discovery and impressions, and legacy organizations like Forbes providing validation.

Let us know if there’s anything in your Open Tabs that we should talk about next week👇

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